Monday, November 19, 2012

There are various forms of rumors, but for virulence, persistence and utter irresponsibility, the baseball rumor has them all beaten to a pale, debilitated whisper. A baseball rumor is an untruth that has not been convicted.
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Some rumor manufacturers have method in their madness. Sometimes a class G magnate has a spavined derelict who he years to expunge from the pay roll. Whereupon he evolves a rumor to the effect that John J. McGraw would purchase the services of said spavined derelict in exchange for $250,000 and Christy Mathewson. As a result some other magnate becomes so dazzled that he pays $75 in real money to take the said derelict off the aforementioned magnate’s hands, beating the coroner to it by half a length.

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The 5th starter on today's birthday team has a career record of 1-25. His 1915 was an 82 ERA+ and a record of 1-20 for the 36-117 As.

And yet, he probably wasn't as bad as his record suggests. (That 1-20 was actually 1916, not 1915.) This was a team that was playing 41-YO Nap Lajoie at 2B, had a 20-YO rookie shortstop who committed 59 errors, fielded .903 with a -1.4 dWAR, had a catcher (Wally Schang) playing in the outfield, and a 3B - inappropriately named Charlie Pick - who committed 44 errors, fielded .898, and tossed in -0.6 dWAR. Between the three non-1B infield positions you had nearly -3.0 dWAR. The 1916 As were probably the worst defensive team since 1900.

Not that Nabors was a *good* pitcher, mind you, but there were extenuating circumstances.

We agree about the same amount on the contents of the list as we did on Game 3, it looks like.

1. 1988 NLCS (9th)
2. 2004 ALCS (3)
3. 1992 ALCS (4). Not only did the Jays come back from 5 down over the last 2 innings, but they loaded the bases with go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth after tying it. Then, the A's got a runner to third with one out in the bottom of the ninth, only to have him get cut down at home on a grounder. That's a pretty exciting inning.
4. 1997 ALCS (7)
5. 1973 NLCS. 1-1 between the Reds and Mets through 8. The Reds loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, loaded them with two out in the tenth, and put runners on the corners with one out in the eleventh, failing to score each time. They finally won it on a Pete Rose solo homer in the twelfth.
6. 1986 ALCS (8)
7. 1984 NLCS (1)
8. 2011 ALCS. Nelson Cruz accrues his 5th, 6th, and 7th eleventh-inning RBIs of the series. Also, he throws out Miguel Cabrera at home on a potential go-ahead sac fly in the eighth.
9. 1978 NLCS. Back-and-forth. The Phillies got a go-ahead homer from Greg Luzinski in the third, the Dodgers tied it with a Ron Cey homer in the fourth. Steve Garvey put LA ahead with a sixth-inning solo shot, and Bake McBride matched him an inning later. Both teams left two runners in the eighth, and the game finally ended on a Bill Russell single in the tenth, one play after Garry Maddox made an error.
10. 2008 NLCS. Phillies-Dodgers again, a 30th anniversary special. Seesaw to a 3-3 tie after five. In the sixth, the Dodgers took the lead on a Casey Blake solo homer, and extended it when Ryan Howard made an error on a sac bunt attempt, scoring one runner and putting two others on second and third with nobody out. LA didn't score further, though, and Philly stormed back in the eighth, tying the game on a 2-run homer by Shane Victorino, then taking the lead on a 2-run shot by rotund, ancient Matt Stairs, providing the final 7-5 margin.

I was quite surprised not to see the 1972 AL entry on my list as well, since extra-inning rallies are usually catnip to my win expectancy-based system. It ranks 13th on a very strong list of games, and would have been in the top 10 as recently as 5 years ago; numbers 10, 11, and 12 are NLCS Game Fours from '08, '10, and '09, respectively.

Royals sign ex-Phillies stopgap Brian Sanches
Royals sign Atahualpa Severino. I don't know who that is but I hope we get to hear that name again.

Mets sign Brian Bixler

Brewers sign Zach Kroenke, the non-union Mexican equivalent of the guy they had last year.

Cardinals sign ex-Mariners catcher of the future Rob Johnson. With stats of .201/.277/.297 in 791 PA in six big-league seasons he's a sure bet to get at least 100 hits this year with the ####### Cardinals.

Sanches has put up a few decent seasons, I'm kinda surprised he never seems to land a MLB deal. He began his career with the Royals and I remember liking him as a prospect so I'm glad to see him back, even though its most likely he spends most of the year in Omaha.

Atahualpa Severino was originally signed as an amateur FA out of the Dominican by Montreal in 2004. He had a cup of coffee with the Nationals in 2011, and was the guy who was DFA'd when the Nationals picked up Ceser Izturis. He's a lefty reliever with fringe-average stuff who needs better control than he's shown to be successful long-term.

Why would you tie up a roster spot when there are at least 20 guys out there like him?

I suppose, but it seems like every team has 3-4 guys on their 40 man roster much less valuable than Sanches. For example, the Royals have replaceable guys like Brett Hayes, Adam Moore, Tony Abreu, Clint Robinson, and Francisely Bueno. I'd wager Sanches will be more usful than any of those stiffs.

I believe he held the record for consecutive games played before Gehrig. And there was no 5% rule back in his day, as you can see from the fact that he got votes in 14 different years over a 20-year span despite peaking at 3.2%.

I believe he held the record for consecutive games played before Gehrig.

He did indeed. And his streak ended on May 6, 1925. Gehrig's started on June 1, less than a month later, when he pinch hit for Pee Wee Wanninger, who had replaced Scott in the Yankee lineup. Scott played in only six more games for the Yankees after being removed from the lineup, until he was claimed off waivers by the Senators on June 17.